Pass case closures



United States Patent Carl F. Boldt West Bend, Wis. 767,784 Oct. 15, 1968 Dec. 22, 1970 Enger Kress Company West Bend, Wis. a corporation of Wisconsin lnventor Appl. No. Filed Patented Assignee PASS CASE CLOSURES 1 Claim, 7 Drawing Figs.

US. Cl. 150/39, 150/42 Int. Cl A451: 11/18 [56] References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 242,810 6/1881 Brainard 150/42 548,250 10]] 895 Foster 229/84 869, l 62 10/ l 907 Brown 229/84 880,936 3/1908 Thompson. 229/84UX 1,955,633 4/1934 l-lill 206/39X 3,301,296 l/l967 Meyer 150/39 Primary Examiner-Donald F. Norton Attorney- Morsell and Morsell ABSTRACT: A self-adjusting pass case having a rear panel with a flap and having a front panel foldable into superimposed position on the rear panel, there being pass holders in leaf form attached to the case at the fold, the flap of the rear panel having a wide tongue extension which is insertable through a relatively long slit in the front panel to a position where it is engaged by the contents when the case is closed, said engagement pressurably maintaining the tongue against the inner side of the front panel in any adjusted position depending upon the condition of expansion of the case.

INVENTOR CARL F. BOLDT ATTORNEYS PASS CASE CLOSURES BACKGROUND OF INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention y The present invention pertains to pass cases of the type usually -used in conjunction with a billfold to hold passes, credit cards and thelike.

2. Description of the. Prior Art Pass cases areeither a permanent part of a billfold or they are detachably connected so that they can be readily removed and carried separately when desired. Heretofore these pass cases haveusually comprised a rear panel and afront panel, with the rear panel having a closure flap. In constructions as heretofore manufactured, the flaps have been detachably secured in closing position by means of bulky metal fasteners or by means of a narrow tongue inserted in a loop which projects above the surface of the front panel. Both of these arrangements result in increased bulklln addition, in order to prevent curling 'of the flapcorners, it has been customary to reinforce the edge of the closure flap with a metal bar which is held in position by a folded-back piece of material. This creates still additional objectionablethickness. Because of the large number of; credit cards and other cards which are customarily carried,any increase in bulk is very objectionable, particularly if the user wishes to keep the pass casein association with the billfold.

SUMMARY os'rua INVENTION I The present invention provides a' pass case wherein the closure flap has a wide tongue extension which is insertable through a slit in the front panel of the case to an position where it is engaged by the contents of the case. This contents acts pressurably on the inserted portion of the tongue to press it against the underside of the front panel and also acts on the end portionof the front panel to urge the latter against the underside of the closure flap. Thus there is a pressure action on two different portions to frictionally maintain the tongue of the closure flap in closing position, regardless of the number of cards within the case, the greater the number of cards the greater the pressure which is exerted from the inside of the inserted portion of the-tongue and on the end portion of the front panel.

A generalobjct of the invention is to provide a pass case closure which eliminates the bulk customarily caused by conventional flapfastening arrangements;

A further object of the invention is to provide a pass case as above described'whe'rein the possibility of corners of 'theclosure flap curling is minimized, and which eliminates the necessity of using metal stiffe'ners to prevent such curling.

A further object of the invention is to provide a pass case which may be readily opened and closed, and which is adapted to releasably maintain itself in closed condition, the construction being self-adjusting to readily adapt itself to the number of cards within the case.

Still further objects of the present invention are to provide a pass case which is simple in design and construction, inexpensive to manufacture, heat in appearance, and otherwise well adapted for the purpose described.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWING In the drawing, illustrating one complete embodiment of the preferred form of the invention, in which the same reference numerals designate the same parts in all of the views:

FIG. I is a perspective view ofthe improved pass case in partially opened condition;

FIG. 2 is a top plan view of the case in closed condition with a minimum of contents; I

FIG. 3 is a view similar to FIG. 2, showing the condition of the parts when the case is expanded by a relatively large amount of contents;

FIG. 4 is a fragmentary view of the outer end of the top panel showing the tongue-receiving slit; 7

FIG. 5 is a sectional view taken on the line 5-5 of FIG. 4;

FIG. 6 is an edge view of the pass case of FIG. 2; and

FIG. 7 is an edge view-of the pass case of FIG. 3. DESCRIPTION or THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT Referring now more particularly to the drawing, the pass case may be formed of any suitable material, but it is usually made of leather, fabric, artificial leather, plastic, or combination thereof. It comprises a rear panel 10, a front panel 11 foldably connected to the rear panel on a line of fold I2, and a closure flap 13 foldably connected to an end of the rear panel on thefold line 14. These parts may be cut from a flat sheet of single thickness, such as leather. The flap 13 has a relatively long tongue extension 15 which is of somewhat less width than the flap 13, there being, shoulders 16 connecting the comer of the flap with the sides'of the tongue. Preferably the sides 17 of the tongue are straight and parallel with the edges of the rear panel, but they may, if desired, be tapered somewhat. The inner end'of the tongue is preferably cut on a V line 18. Spaced inwardly from the end of the front panel is a slit 19, preferably V-shaped in plan view as in FIG. 4. The ends of the slit terminate sufi'rciently short of the side edges of the top panel to leave just enough stock at 20 so that there is no danger of tearing through the material. It is desirable to have the slit 19 as long as possible so that the tongue 15 maybe relatively wide. In this waythere is a minimum of material at 16 to curl in use. The dimension a of the tongue is such with respect to the length of the slit 19 that there will be a fairly snug fit between the edges 17 of the tongue and the ends of the slit 19, so that an actual pull is necessary in order to cause withdrawal of the tongue from the slit. The length of the tongue is such that there is always some part of the projecting through the slit, even when the case is overloaded.

In this type of case there are usually transversely-folded card-holding pockets 21 of a length slightly less than the length of the front and rear panels held in leaf form within the case, usually by means of a metal clip 22 at the fold line 12. The card holders are usually formed of a transparent plastic material and are tubular with open ends 23 through which the cards may be inserted. The plastic material may be folded on the line 25.

When the case is closed, with a minimum of contents, it is contemplated that the tongue 15 be substantially fully inserted in the slit 19, as shown in FIG. 2. FIG. 6, which is an edge view of FIG. 2, shows that when there is full insertion of the tongue, the end 24 of the top panel projects a substantial distance beneath the flap 13. Also the tongue 15 projects a substantial distance beneaththe top panel 11 so that there is a crisscross arrangement of the tongue and panel'end as shown in FIGS. 6 and 7. With this crisscross arrangement of the tongue and slit, in conjunction with'contents which project beneath both the tongue 15 and the end 24 of the front panel, the contents of the case tend to press the tongue 15 and the panel end 24 against the undersides of the panel 11 and the underside of the flap 13 respectively.,This pressure is aided by the fact that the plastic card holders 21 normally tend to open out on their fold lines 25 and the clip 22 also tendsto promote spreading. The greater the number of cards within'the case and, hence, the greater the bulk, the greater will be the pressure exerted on the tongue 15 and front panel end 24 to thereby pressurably maintain the-flap in closed condition in any adjusted position caused by the number of cards being carried.

FIGS. 3 an 7 illustrate a condition of expansion where there is a substantially greater amount of contents than in FIGS. 2 and 6. Here it will be seen that there is a substantial amount of the tongue 15 which is not inserted in the slit 19. In this condition of expansion the length of the inserted portion of the tongue 15 is shortened, as shown in FIG. 7, but there is still ample length which is urged tightly against the underside of the front panel 11, and the larger number of cards causes this pressure to be grater. In any condition of expansion the length of the front panel end portion 24 which is acted upon by the contents is always the same.

Due to the V-shape of the slit as in FIG. 4, it may be made to gap open when pressure is exerted on the opposite longitudinal edges of the front panel. Thus insertion of that tongue may be facilitated. In a typical construction the front panel is 2% inches wide and the unslit portions 20 are one-quarter inch each.

From the above it is apparent that avery simple pass case construction has been provided having a closure arrangement which reduces the overall thickness of the case due to the elimination of metal fastenings or projecting loops. It is also apparent that the present case can be manufactured at reduced cost with respect to pass cases having the usual type of closures. It is also clear that there is a minimum amount of material at the comers of the flap which is subject to curling and that, therefore, no expensive or bulk-increasing metal bars need be used on closure flap.

Various changes and modifications may be made without departing from the spirit of the invention, and all of such changes are contemplated as may come within the scope of the claims.

I claim:

1. An expansible pass case comprising a rear panel of flexible sheet material having a flap foldably connected to one end thereof; a front panel having one end foldably connected to the other end of said rear panel on a transverse line of fold for movement into and out of superimposed position on said rear panel, there being atransverse slit spaced inwardly from the other end of said front panel and located substantially closer to saidother end than to the opposite end and extending for a major portion of the distance across the panel, and there being a front panel end located beyond said slit and free from the rear panel; said flap being formed with an extension which is of somewhat less width than the flap forming a tongue having a width slightly less than the length of the slit to be snugly insertable in said slit, with the inserted 'portion positioned against the inner side of the said front panel, and with the front panel end located against the inner side 'fof flap; card-holding envelopes within the case bound to the latter on the transverse fold line between the front and rear pane ls, said envelopes having free ends which tend to separate due the inherent tendency of the pass case and envelopes to open out, which free ends are located to press against the front panel end and against the inserted portion of said tongue to maintain the parts in engaged position, the tongue being of such length as to maintain engagement in the slit after maximum expansion of the case. 

